The Habit of Perfection
ELECTED Silence, sing to meAnd beat upon my whorled ear,Pipe me to pastures still and beThe music that I care to hear.
Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb:It is the shut, the curfew sentFrom there where all surrenders comeWhich only makes you eloquent.
Be shelled, eyes, with double darkAnd find the uncreated light:This ruck and reel which you remarkCoils, keeps, and teases simple sight.
Palate, the hutch of tasty lust,Desire not to be rinsed with wine:The can must be so sweet, the crustSo fresh that come in fasts divine!
Nostrils, your careless breath that spendUpon the stir and keep of pride,What relish shall the censers sendAlong the sanctuary side!
O feel-of-primrose hands, O feetThat want the yield of plushy sward,But you shall walk the golden streetAnd you unhouse and house the Lord.
And, Poverty, be thou the brideAnd now the marriage feast begun,And lily-coloured clothes provideYour spouse not laboured-at nor spun.
Words in this poem
- whorled a.
- Furnished with whorls; arranged in the form of a whorl or whorls; verticillate; as, whorled leaves.
- curfew n.
- The ringing of an evening bell, originally a signal to the inhabitants to cover fires, extinguish lights, and retire to rest, -- instituted by William the Conqueror; also, the bell itself. [OE. courfew, curfu, fr. OF. cuevrefu, covrefeu, F. couvre-feu; covrir to cover + feu fire, fr. L. focus fireplace, hearth. See Cover, and Focus.]
- shelled a.
- Having a shell.
- ruck n.
- A roc. Drayton.
- hutch v. t.
- To place in huts; to live in huts; as, to hut troops in winter quarters.
- tasty a.
- Having a good taste; -- applied to persons; as, a tasty woman. See Taste, n., 5.
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- plushy a.
- Like plush; soft and shaggy. H. Kingsley.
- unhouse v. t.
- To drive from a house or habitation; to dislodge; hence, to deprive of shelter. [1 st pref. un- + house.]
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Habit of Perfection is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published, Project Gutenberg ebook #22403; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Gerard Manley Hopkins, The Habit of Perfection, in Poems (1918), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22403, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/hopkins-poems/the-habit-of-perfection.html, id L04373.
Form and metre
The Habit of Perfection is 28 lines in 7 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 46% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB meA · earB · beA · hearB
- 2 ABAB dumbA · sentB · comeA · eloquentB
- 3 ABAB darkA · lightB · remarkA · sightB
- 4 ABAB lustA · wineB · crustA · divineB
- 5 ABAB spendA · prideB · sendA · sideB
- 6 ABAB feetA · swardB · streetA · lordB
- 7 ABAB brideA · begunB · provideA · spunB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| ELECTED Silence, sing to me | 8 | ˘/˘/˘··· |
| And beat upon my whorled ear, | 7 | ······· |
| Pipe me to pastures still and be | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| The music that I care to hear. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Shape nothing, lips; be lovely-dumb: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| It is the shut, the curfew sent | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| From there where all surrenders come | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Which only makes you eloquent. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Be shelled, eyes, with double dark | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And find the uncreated light: | 7 | ······· |
| This ruck and reel which you remark | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Coils, keeps, and teases simple sight. | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Palate, the hutch of tasty lust, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Desire not to be rinsed with wine: | 10 | ˘/˘····˘·· |
| The can must be so sweet, the crust | 8 | ········ |
| So fresh that come in fasts divine! | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Nostrils, your careless breath that spend | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Upon the stir and keep of pride, | 8 | ········ |
| What relish shall the censers send | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Along the sanctuary side! | 8 | ˘/·/˘·˘· |
| O feel-of-primrose hands, O feet | 8 | ···/···· |
| That want the yield of plushy sward, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But you shall walk the golden street | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And you unhouse and house the Lord. | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And, Poverty, be thou the bride | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| And now the marriage feast begun, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| And lily-coloured clothes provide | 9 | ·/˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| Your spouse not laboured-at nor spun. | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.